Freshly-baked products are generally preferred by consumers because of their “fresh” taste and aroma. However, the traditional way of preparing freshly baked products is time-consuming. A step that requires a significant amount of time and human care is proofing—during which yeast produces carbon dioxide that expands the product which leads to further expansion during baking. Proofing requires a proofer with temperature and humidity control, as well as experienced personnel attending to the proofing process over the duration of proofing (usually >1 hr).
Many frozen doughs also require proofing. In some frozen doughs, the dough is proofed prior to freezing. A significant time is required for pre-proofing. Additionally, pre-proofed doughs do not have long storage life. In some other frozen doughs, the dough is not proofed but requires chemical leavening.
Frozen doughs have been described that do not need a proofing step, but such doughs typically have chemical leavening agents which may be either very high in level (U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,417), or require more than one acid (WO 01/32023 A1). The former produces a product having biscuit-like taste and texture, and the latter results in a loss of leavening agent's gassing power during storage of the frozen doughs thereby limiting the storage time.